


Stay

by FingolfinSilme



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Elrond can't use a phone, Elrond studies, F/M, M/M, Memories, Modern Middle Earth, Starbucks, University in Balar, huan as a stuffed animal, storm in Alqualondë
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-30
Updated: 2017-11-05
Packaged: 2019-01-07 04:14:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12225552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FingolfinSilme/pseuds/FingolfinSilme
Summary: Elrond has left home to go to university. Elros has trouble to cope without his brother and fears for their relationship to break.





	1. A Hard Beginning

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SongOfTheLostSea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SongOfTheLostSea/gifts).



“Hey, Elrond. I just called to take some news...if you get my message...call me back. Or just text. Text is okay. I miss you. See you in soon.”  
Elros hung up and threw his phone at the blankets piled up at his feet. He grabbed his brother’s pillow and pressed it to his face, taking in the familiar although distant scent. Suddenly, he felt his eyes moisturizing. It took all his strength not to cry out in anguish. He couldn’t weep. Not again. Not now. He had already shed too many tears on Elrond’s account today.  
“Elros! Dinner!” Maedhros’s voice came from the other end of the world. It took a moment for the words to filter through his brain and by the time Elros slid off the bed, Maedhros was already climbing the steps to see what he was doing, no doubt.  
The ellon straightened his T-shirt hurriedly and put a hopefully natural smile on his face.  
“Elros, what in Arda are you doing?” Although his words were harsh, his expression softened quickly. “Hey, what’s wrong?”  
Elros looked away. “N-nothing.” He tried to steady his voice. When he saw Maedhros’s worried face, he sighed. “It’s just...I miss Elrond…”  
“Do you want to talk about it a bit?” Maedhros sat on the bed.  
Elros shrugged sadly, sat next to his uncle and reached out to find Elrond’s stuffed puppy which he pressed to his chest. “He forgot Huan.”  
This made Maedhros smile. He remembered his own brother’s large grey dog. Maglor had been great at telling all about Huan and the boys had grown quite fond of him.  
“That way you get to take care of him for a while.” He said reassuringly.  
Elros nodded. “It’s just--I feel like he...left him behind and that...he won’t be taking him back.” He bit his lip, realising how stupid this must have sounded. “I guess he was afraid people would make fun of him…”  
“Listen, if that’s what is troubling you, there is nothing to worry about, okay? I’m sure that he’ll be very thankful that you kept it for him and he’ll take him back as soon as he gets home.”  
Elros nodded. This wasn’t what scared him the most but he didn’t feel up to talk to Maedhros about the rest of it just at the moment.  
“Come, we’ll get some dinner. It’s not very fancy but well, I do what I can to match up with Kàno’s grand cooking.” He laughed and stood up. Elros followed with a small smile, Huan still in his hand.

***

As soon as he heard the familiar sound of a late evening football match going on on TV downstairs, Elros crept out of his room, crossed the corridor and slumped down on Elrond’s bed. He retrieved his phone from where he had left it earlier and turned it on. There were no messages from Elrond. He swallowed hard, curled up under his brother’s warm blanket and waited for sleep to throw its dark cloak upon his already cloudy mind.  
By the time the clock struck three, Maedhros had gone to bed but Elros was still wide awake, his phone on the bedside table. Even though he had made sure several times that the volume was at maximum, he kept checking it every few seconds just in case he had missed something.  
“Elrond...please…” Elros whispered, his voice hoarse from crying. He checked his phone one last time before giving a small sob of frustration and turning it off. The world seemed to crumble around him. He felt inside his heart that he would never see his brother again.

***

It seemed he had only slept for a few minutes when light flooded the room. Elros groaned and turned away from the window, hiding his face with the pillow.  
“Elros, come on, it’s 10:30. We should already be on the road.”  
He was about to ask where they were going but then he remembered they had to pick Maglor up from the airport.

They were both silent. Elros reached out to turn on the radio. There was nothing but advertisement and news about an ongoing storm in Alqualondë so he turned it off again.  
“Listen, Elros…” Maedhros started after another long silence. “I know you wish Elrond wasn’t gone and that you miss him and you’re worried about him, but you can’t keep all of this in. I mean...closing up on yourself won’t help. Talk to us. Maglor and I are here for this. You have to keep living. Your brother will be back. He is just away for a few months, and we can go and visit him.”  
Elros nodded. He wished they’d just get to the airport; he hated this kind of conversations, especially when it was in the car where he could not escape.  
“Tomorrow’s school, so just try to be with your friends...have fun, don’t worry about Elrond, okay? Can you do that for me?”  
He nodded again. What Maedhros didn’t know was that school without Elrond was unbearable but starting to explain would be no use.

“Kàno, will you answer your stupid phone?!”  
The plane from Balar’s arrival had already been announced two hours before but Maglor still was nowhere to be seen. Elros was sitting on one of the uncomfortable chairs in the airport’s waiting hall whilst Maedhros was pacing angrily in the aisle.  
“Elros, can you get us some coffee, please?” Maedhros dug into his pocket for his purse and thrust it towards Elros, obviously trying to stay calm.  
Elros stood up and started towards the Starbucks which was a few aisles away, eyes fixed on the undone laces of his trainers. As he queued to order two drinks, he heard Maedhros’s angry voice echo through the hall, although he was too far to hear exactly what he was saying. He didn’t dare look back towards where his uncle was but he guessed Maglor had finally answered the phone.  
Just as he was trying to figure out a way of not dying of embarrassment when he would join Maedhros again, a familiar voice called his name. He looked up, trying to identify the speaker. When he saw Fingon running towards him, a small smile touched his lips.  
“Hi! I’m glad you’re here! I felt bad for ignoring Maitimo’s bad public anger-management.” Fingon exclaimed, punching Elros lightly in the shoulder. “He’s so embarrassing. I don’t know how you live with him all the time!”  
Elros just shrugged. It was his turn to order so he asked for a Caramel Frappuccino and an espresso for Maedhros, remembering bitterly how Elrond always took a Mocha Frappuccino and they’d give book character names to the waiter.

Fingon walked with him, chatting continuously about how he was waiting for his brother Turgon but his plane from Alqualondë couldn’t take off because of the storm so he had to stay in the airport. Elros listened silently as he looked for Maedhros. He seemed to have vanished from the waiting hall. However, he reappeared moments later, flanked by two security guards who seemed especially irritated, although not half as irritated as Maedhros himself.  
When he saw Elros and Fingon, he spoke to the security people who let go of him somehow reluctantly.  
“He missed the plane and I got mad at information person. What are they here for if they don’t even know when the next plane is!” He scowled, taking the espresso Elros handed to him. “And what are you doing here?” He turned towards Fingon, his expression softer.  
Elros didn’t listen to Fingon’s answer; his phone was vibrating in his pocket. His heart skipped a beat when he saw Elrond’s name displayed on the screen. He left Maedhros and Turgon to their waiting and headed back towards the Starbucks, where there seemed to be less noise despite the hour. He pressed the green telephone button, lifted the phone to his ear and waited.

“Elros? Did you pick up? Is that voicemail? Hello?”  
Elros’s throat finally untightened and he laughed; Elrond was still as clueless with phones as when he’d left a week before.  
“Elros?” Elrond repeated.  
“Yes, I’m here!” He grinned. “Why didn’t you call me back before?!”  
“The thing is, my telephone lost all its battery and I unwillingly forgot to take my cable. Then, I meant to call with the public telephone at the university but I could not make sense of its functioning, or maybe it was just out of order. Anyway, I had to find someone who had the same cable as me but--”  
“Elrond, forget it, I get what you mean.”  
“You are right, it truly is not a fascinating story. Excuse me for not calling before. I hope I have not upset you.”  
He could almost see his brother bow his head in apology.  
“I was kinda smad at first but now you called, it’s okay!”  
There was a pause and Elros wondered if he had had another issue with his phone.  
“Elrond?” He called softly after a few seconds.  
“Ah, excuse me, I’m looking for my dictionary.”  
“Why in Arda are you looking for a dictionary?”  
“Hmmm...I cannot find it...how do you spell it?”  
“Spell what?”  
“‘Smad’. I have never heard this word before.”  
Elros mentally facepalmed and had to work hard not to burst out laughing; he knew Elrond would be upset if he laughed.  
“That’s just...Glorfindel...it means you’re sad and mad at the same time. You wouldn’t find it in a dictionary.” He explained.  
“Ah...very well.” Elrond sounded disappointed. He was probably thinking he wouldn’t be able to use it in an essay or something.  
“So, tell me, how’s everything going?”  
“Oh, well, as you must already know, Kàno missed his plane. He’s at the airport, waiting for the next one.”  
“I know. Maedhros is really mad.”  
“Is his hair frizzing up at the top of his head?”  
At that, they both laughed.  
“Aw, I wish I could have come with you, Ron!”  
At Elros’s surprise, his brother didn’t even sigh at the nickname as he would normally do. Elrond took a deep, sad breath and Elros was reassured for a moment.  
“I know. Me too. But sometimes we have to accept that things turn out in a way that is maybe not what we expected. I am sure we’ll get through this, though. I promise you it’ll be fine.”  
“But what if something happens and we get separated forever and we can never talk or see each other again…”  
“Elros, calm down. This will not happen. I swear. I’ll call you every day, okay? Or text if I can’t. Is that alright?”  
“But if you text, I won’t know it’s you. And even if you call, how will I know you’re not just jesting me and lying and not caring about me…?” By then, tears had found their way to his eyes and were starting to roll down his cheeks.  
“Elros, listen to me.” Elrond’s voice had never been as gentle and soft. “I will never stop loving you. I will never lie to you. You are the person I care the most for in the entire world. And this as long as the stars shine in the night. Never forget it.”


	2. Confort

“Was that Elrond?” Maedhros looked down at Elros, frowning a little. Fingon put a hand on his cheek and wiped away his tears.

“Hey, lad, what’s wrong?”

Elros turned his head away and mumbled that he was fine. Maedhros was about to reply but his phone rang. He took a step back and pressed the cell to his ear eagerly. After a moment, he rolled his eyes dramatically and nodded.

“And I thought Celegorm was the messy one. Okay, Kàno, calm down. Yes. Yes. No. Alright. We’ll wait for you. Yes. No. Okay. Bye. Hurry or you’ll miss it again. Ok. See you.”  
Maedhros hung up with a sigh and slumped down in a chair behind Elros. He dug a hand in his pocket.

“Maglor’s plane is boarding. He’ll be there in two or three hours.” He explained as he searched each of his coat pockets, a frown appearing upon his brow. Fingon, oblivious to Maedhros’ obvious distress, sat down next to his friend and started complaining about the terrible efficiency of airports these days.

Elros observed Maedhros for a second before pacing around where his uncle had stood, knowing what he was looking for. At that moment, he saw a young man with dark, messy hair and a vile smirk upon his lips straightening up after stooping down and inspecting a shiny object he’d picked up.

“Hey!!!!!” Elros cried out and ran towards the man. Maedhros looked up towards him, eyes going wide as he called out for him to come back.

“Excuse me, sir, this is mine.” He stated, holding out his hand to retrieve Maedhros’ lucky stone his father had given to him.

The man sneered and shoved Elros out of this way. “Leave me alone, kid.” Elros was about to protest angrily but he saw the man turning pale at Maedhros’ approach. Elros grinned at his uncle’s strong silhouette and hard-set face.

“Anything wrong, Elros?” He asked, looking at the man after winking at his nephew.

The man sniggered again and looked straight at the tall Elf’s face. “The boy’s a thief. You should raise him bet--”

He didn’t have time to finish because Maedhros had grabbed the front of his shirt. “Never. Question. My education.” He screamed into the man’s face.

Before Elros could even smile, the man tossed the stone at him and scampered off, obviously trying to retain his dignity but failing miserably.

“Here you go, Maitimo.” He said, handing him the stone.

Fingon had followed Maedhros, obviously flustered by their attitude. “What in Arda are you doing?”

Maedhros shoved the stone in his pocket and shrugged. At that moment, Elros saw the security guard striding towards them. He poked Maedhros insistently and the latter turned around, smiling guiltily.

“Sir, get out of this airport or I will have to arrest you.” He said, taking hold of Maedhros’ shoulder and pushing him towards the exit. Fingon and Elros jogged behind them. The security person shoved Maedhros outside. As he reentered the waiting hall, Elros threw him a dark look and barely resisted the urge to trip him with his foot.

“If ever I happen to cross path with him again, he will suffer my imperishable wrath.” He hissed angrily. He jerked his head towards the parking lot. “Let’s go wait in the car.”  
Fingon hooked his arm in Maedhros’ cheerfully. “C’mon, Mae, don’t be grumpy. We all know what a delinquent you are!”

Despite himself, a smile touched his lips as he opened the car door. “Don’t you have a brother you have to wait for?” He asked Fingon, one eyebrow raised. 

The latter shook his head. His plane didn’t even take off yet so I have all the time in the world.” He sat in the passenger seat and put his feet on the dashboard while Elros crawled into the backseat, taking out his phone again. Elrond had said he had lessons and there was no way he would answer messages during that time but it did not mean that he couldn’t receive some.

Maedhros and Fingon chatted endlessly about matters which were deeply uninteresting to Elros’ ears. During that time of waiting, Elros fired his brother’s inbox with emails, each telling of a memory they had shared.

After what seemed like a century, Maedhros’ phone finally rang again. Five minutes later, Maglor emerged from the airport, a suitcase in one hand and a large backpack slung over his shoulder. He waved at Elros from outside and opened Maedhros’ door.

“You are a complete idiot, Kàno,” Maedhros stated, gesturing towards the trunk. “Get your suitcase in there. I have better things to do than to wait for you all day.”

“Like watching football? And not taking Elros to the hairdresser as I had told you to do?” Maglor said, throwing his suitcase in the back.

“How many times do I have to tell you? He likes his hair that way.” Maedhros sighed and ran his hand through his own long, dark red hair.

“Yes but the dye is coming away, Mae.” Elros piped up, still typing tirelessly on his phone.

Maglor smiled. Elros had pleaded him to let him dye his hair red to match Maedhros’. “Okay, enough about hairstyles. Let’s get moving.”

“And you say that?” Maedhros sighed and slammed his hands down on the steering wheel in despair.

“Alright, then I’ll see you around, guys. Mae, I’ll call you for Wednesday.”

“Sure. And text me when Turvo gets here.”

Fingon nodded and jumped out of the car. He smiled at Maglor and waved in farewell as he hurried back to the airport door.

“You told me you were waiting in the hall. I started panicking when I didn’t see you.” Maglor said as he buckled his seatbelt.

Maedhros and Elros glanced at each other, both suppressing a smile.

“So, has Elrond settled alright?” Maedhros asked, starting the engine and making for the exit.

“Oh, yes, he’s doing great. The University is really nice. They changed a lot of things since our time; now the dorms are where the amphitheatre used to be.”

“Did you tell him he should salt the windows? The spirit of the calculus lessons must be pretty angry that they put the building down.” At this, the brothers laughed and Elros was left to imagine what had happened in their calculus class.

“Anyway, he’s in a room with Gil-Galad and another boy who seems very nice. His name’s Erestor, I think.”

“That’s good. I was afraid he would end up with some junkies or something.”

“What about you, guys? Was Maedhros good, Elros?” He asked, craning his neck to grin at his nephew who had put his phone away because it made him sick as the car moved.

“I guess.” He shrugged, not meeting Maglor’s eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Maglor glared accusingly at his brother.

“Nothing.” Elros snapped before Maedhros could reply. He let his head drop against the window. “And no, I don’t want to talk about it.”

Maedhros and Maglor dared not answer; they knew how Elros was when he was upset. He might talk later. No one spoke for the rest of the way. The tension was nearly palpable. Elros couldn’t help but think of how Elrond would be sneezing at that moment. He always sneezed when this type of things happened.

As soon as Maedhros had pulled up in the driveway, Elros jumped out of the car and rushed to his room, scared Maglor would start asking questions. He slumped down on his bed and retrieved his phone from his pocket, his hands shaking. He typed Elrond’s number and pressed the device to his ear, praying hard that his brother would answer.

“This is “Elros, what in Arda?! Is that the signal?” “Just say your name!” “Er...Elrond.” Please leave a message at the beep.” The voicemail said. 

Elros sighed with a small smile. He turned his phone off and crept downstairs, feeling bad for his behaviour in the car. He looked around the living room and his eyes fell on his brother’s harp. He had taken all his music books, hoping to find a piano at the university as he couldn’t travel with his harp but had left a few from Elros’s benefit if ever he wanted to try himself on his older brother’s favourite instrument.

He sat on the stool and flicked through the papers on the music stand. He stopped when he found the scoresheet for The Call. Elrond used to always play it and Elros would sing it with him. Taking a deep breath, he placed his hands on the strings and tried making sense of the piece by using his rather dusty keyboard knowledge and transposing it to the harp.

“Kàno, can’t you spend five minutes without playing music?!” Maedhros growled grumpily as he entered the living room. When he saw that it was Elros playing, he smiled apologetically and walked up towards his nephew. “Oh, it’s you, Elros, I’m sorry.”

Elros had stopped playing. He shook his head, flustered, before standing up. He did not dare meet Maedhros’s eyes.

“I’m sorry for earlier, Maitimo.”

Maedhros opened his mouth but did not find anything to say so decided to keep silent. Elros was rarely so direct with apologies. At that moment, Maglor appeared in the doorway.  
“What’s going on?” He asked, having not heard Elros’s words.

“I just wanted to apologise,” Elros repeated, eyes downcast and voice shaking.

Maglor shook his head, took Elros in his arms and pulled him close to him. “There is nothing you have to apologise for, laes.”

By then, Elros was shaking with sobs and Maglor was rubbing his back, trying to comfort him.

“I miss Elrond.” He managed to gasp between sniffles.

“Hey, shh, Elros, it’s alright. He’ll be home before you even realise. Don’t cry. Shh.”

Maedhros left the room with a small smile. Maglor truly was the best with this kind of things. When he came back, Maglor and Elros were sitting on the sofa and Maglor was singing to his nephew who had his head on his shoulder. Maedhros sat down on the floor at his brother’s feet and took up the tune. Their voices filled the room as the sky outside darkened.

It started out as a feeling  
Which then grew into a hope  
Which then turned into a quiet thought  
Which then turned into a quiet word  
And then that word grew louder and louder ‘til it was a battle cry.  
I’ll come back when you call me,  
No need to say goodbye  
Just because everything’s changing  
Doesn’t mean it’s never been this way before.  
All you can do is try to know who your friends are as you head off to the war.  
Pick a star on the dark horizon and follow the light.  
You’ll come back when it’s over,  
No need to say goodbye  
Now we’re back to the beginning  
It’s just a feeling and no one knows yet  
But just because they can’t feel it too doesn’t mean that you have to forget.  
Let your memories grow stronger and stronger ‘til they’re before your eyes.  
You’ll come back when they call you,  
No need to say goodbye.  
You’ll come back when they call you,  
No need to say goodbye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the song. For the reference, it is "The Call" by Regina Spektor.


End file.
